Here we are not eliminating any darts, but we are narrowing the intake of the original darts and then creating another dart beside it towards the side seams.
Once you do this you will have two waist darts on the front and two waist darts on the back pattern.
However for your figure, you can shorten the front waist darts. You can shorten the front waist darts by 2 to 3 cm each, to fit them better to your body shape. What you do is measure up from the bottom of each dart, mark the new dart end and then connect the top of the dart to these new points.
This means when you sew the skirt you will have four waist darts in the front and four waist darts in the back.
Thanks for posting your pictures and measurements. Looking at your figure I can tell that since your buttocks dont protrude much, it is better for you not to add to the intake of the back waist darts.
All the waist darts should have the same intakes for you, just as you calculated. I sugget that you do conver the front and back waist darts into two each. This way the skirt will fall smoothly.
You can also shorten the length of the front waist darts by about 2 to 3 cm.
I would like to have your upper hip circumference as well. However if your lower hip circumference is larger than the upper hip circumference, Then your first calculation is correct.
The dart intake you calculated to be 1.6 cm is perfectly adequate for someone who does not have a big difference between their waist circumference and lower hip circumference.
If you watch this chapter: Why do we Need Darts, you will notice that if the manikin had a larger waist circumference the dart intakes would be narrower.
So if your dart intakes are narrow this is fine. I recommend that you follow the instructions and draw all the darts with the original intakes as you calculated.
Once you sew a test skirt out of muslin to check the fit, you can make further adjustment. For example reducing the intake of the front waist darts and adding that amount to the intake of the back waist darts, if the buttocks protrude. If you do this, make sure to convert the back waist darts into two on each side. Converting One Dart Into Two for the Back Shell Skirt Pattern
Its better not to add to the center back dart intake, doing this will make the bottom of the dart stick out on the skirt, unless your lower hip length is more than 22 cm.
It is best not to eliminate the front waist darts completely, as they help give an illusion of a narrower waist, which is flattering. The intake of the front waist darts can be as little as 2 mm, for someone whose belly protrudes as much or more than it does at their upper hipline, when looking at their profile.
I got mine at Curry's art store (currys.com). Since I don't need a lot of it, the roll lasts me a while and there wasn't anything around my immediate area that I could buy straight from a store.
Wearing ease, is the amount of easing added to a pattern to allow for comfortable movement based on a persons particular needs or preference. This is what you add yourself to an existing pattern.
Design ease, is incorporated in ready made patterns, to give a specific look to a garment. When you draft your own block pattern you can add design ease for the style that you create.
The block pattern that we made is close fitted and therefore does not have any wearing ease. You can add your own wearing ease to it.
This can be about 1 to 2 cm for the waistline and from 2 to 5 cm for the upper and lower hiplines.
You can sew a quick skirt using muslin fabric to test your wearing ease.
Thanks for your suggestions. I will talk to our web developer about adding PDF forms for body measurements, and also to look into the possibility of strong member measurements on the site.
You can follow the same instruction in the previous answer. But instead of placing the pattern with the length wise grain line parallel to the salvage, you place it perpendicular to the salvage.
To help you do this you can use a right angle, or straight angle ruler. Place one of the straight edges along the length wise grain line of the pattern and the other straight edge parallel with the salvage.
Okay, Thank you, very much, Nehzat. I appreciate your help. This brings to mind another question I have reguarding this type of fabric. I read that on some of these fabrics the greatest stretch could be on the crossgrain or on the lengthwise grain, and that it should be cut with the greatest stretch going around the body. If the fabric has more stretch on lengthwise grain, then how would I square the crossgrain of the fabric?
Some ideas I have that you can try to see if there are any improvements in the consistency of your machine stitches are:
Opening the looper covers in the front and the side and vacuuming these areas using the hose of the vacuum, you can also vacuum the thread tension discs.
Making sure that the machine is threaded according to the manual.
It is also best to use smooth threads.
When sewing try to keep a steady speed. Fluctuating between high and low speeds may cause inconsistencies in the stitching.
If the blade that cuts the fabric as you sew, is worn out and blunt, it may also cause problems with the stitching.
Make sure you have new needles in the machine.
Try to make these changes, if you still have issue with the stitching you need take it in for repair.
I am so happy to hear from our subscribers and that they are benefiting from the video lessons.
Since we don't have any transcripts available right now, I suggest that one thing you can do to help yourself remember the steps better, is to draft a small version of the patterns on a printer paper while you watch the videos.
You can also note down a few pointers for yourself to remember specific steps along the sides of the small pattern.
If you need to fold the fabric to place the pattern, follow the below instructions:
For this type of stretch fabric you can place the salvage edges on each other, making sure that the salvages are aligned, the fabric is laying flat and that there are no ripples in the fabric.
When you place the pattern on the fabric you make sure that the length wise grain line is parallel to the salvage.
If you need to place the pattern on a single layer of fabric, just place the pattern in a way so that the lengthwise grain line is parallel to the salvage.
Hi, I too am new. Just found this site today and was sooo pleased I didn't even take time to check it out before I joined. Am looking forward to my morning of checking every corner of this site.
I made this gown for a co-workers little girl who visits the hospital alot. I had a very hard time with this because I ended up making the sleeves just a bit small. The little girl was able to wear it, but I would like some input on how to make bigger sleeves. The sleeves are hard to see, but I just made one piece pattern. I think when I cut under the arms I do so a little to narrow. How can I fix that problem so next time I don't have the same issue. Thanks
What a beatiful Dress, I'd like to be so professional sewer like you;)
Dear Ana,
The essential things you will need besides a sewing machine are:
Depending on future projects, you will need to buy other items.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Dear suzkim,
You are very welcome.
The first step is for you to draw the front and back waist darts,
One for each pattern as I explained in the video.
Once this is done you can watch these chapters and follow the instructions to convert each waist dart of the front and back patterns into two darts.
Converting One Dart Into Two for the Front Shell Skirt Pattern
Converting One Dart Into Two for the Back Shell Skirt Pattern
Here we are not eliminating any darts, but we are narrowing the intake of the original darts and then creating another dart beside it towards the side seams.
Once you do this you will have two waist darts on the front and two waist darts on the back pattern.
However for your figure, you can shorten the front waist darts. You can shorten the front waist darts by 2 to 3 cm each, to fit them better to your body shape. What you do is measure up from the bottom of each dart, mark the new dart end and then connect the top of the dart to these new points.
This means when you sew the skirt you will have four waist darts in the front and four waist darts in the back.
I hope this clarifies it.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
So, I'm using 1.6 cm for my dart calcuation divided between two darts on the front and the back with the front darts shortened 2-3 cm.
I eliminate the 1.6 cm intake from A to E which means I do NOT draw the line from E to F. Correct?
Thanks so much for taking time to answer all my questions!
~Suzkim
Dear suzkim,
Thanks for posting your pictures and measurements. Looking at your figure I can tell that since your buttocks dont protrude much, it is better for you not to add to the intake of the back waist darts.
All the waist darts should have the same intakes for you, just as you calculated. I sugget that you do conver the front and back waist darts into two each. This way the skirt will fall smoothly.
You can also shorten the length of the front waist darts by about 2 to 3 cm.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Here are all the measurements I took
Bust Distance 20.30
Waist Circumference 77.50
High Hip circumference 83.20 length 10.2
Lower Hip circumference 92.10 length 19.1
The pictures are slightly embarassing but I thought might help. It's like I got a belly, no hips and no butt.
Dear Suzkim,
I would like to have your upper hip circumference as well. However if your lower hip circumference is larger than the upper hip circumference, Then your first calculation is correct.
The dart intake you calculated to be 1.6 cm is perfectly adequate for someone who does not have a big difference between their waist circumference and lower hip circumference.
If you watch this chapter: Why do we Need Darts, you will notice that if the manikin had a larger waist circumference the dart intakes would be narrower.
So if your dart intakes are narrow this is fine. I recommend that you follow the instructions and draw all the darts with the original intakes as you calculated.
Once you sew a test skirt out of muslin to check the fit, you can make further adjustment. For example reducing the intake of the front waist darts and adding that amount to the intake of the back waist darts, if the buttocks protrude. If you do this, make sure to convert the back waist darts into two on each side. Converting One Dart Into Two for the Back Shell Skirt Pattern
Its better not to add to the center back dart intake, doing this will make the bottom of the dart stick out on the skirt, unless your lower hip length is more than 22 cm.
It is best not to eliminate the front waist darts completely, as they help give an illusion of a narrower waist, which is flattering. The intake of the front waist darts can be as little as 2 mm, for someone whose belly protrudes as much or more than it does at their upper hipline, when looking at their profile.
I hope this helps.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Dear marie88,
The best place to apply the zipper is on the center back.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
I got mine at Curry's art store (currys.com). Since I don't need a lot of it, the roll lasts me a while and there wasn't anything around my immediate area that I could buy straight from a store.
Dear trumac,
Can you please let me know, where on the V neck style you have this problem. On the front or on the back and what is the exact problem.
This way I can answer your question.
Thanks,
Nehzat
Dear suzkim,
There are two different kinds of ease:
Wearing ease, is the amount of easing added to a pattern to allow for comfortable movement based on a persons particular needs or preference. This is what you add yourself to an existing pattern.
Design ease, is incorporated in ready made patterns, to give a specific look to a garment. When you draft your own block pattern you can add design ease for the style that you create.
The block pattern that we made is close fitted and therefore does not have any wearing ease. You can add your own wearing ease to it.
This can be about 1 to 2 cm for the waistline and from 2 to 5 cm for the upper and lower hiplines.
You can sew a quick skirt using muslin fabric to test your wearing ease.
Hope this helps,
Nehzat
Dear sew-4u,
Thanks for your suggestions. I will talk to our web developer about adding PDF forms for body measurements, and also to look into the possibility of strong member measurements on the site.
Thanks for your great suggestions.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Okay, thank you very much Nehzat. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Carol
Dear Carol,
You can follow the same instruction in the previous answer. But instead of placing the pattern with the length wise grain line parallel to the salvage, you place it perpendicular to the salvage.
To help you do this you can use a right angle, or straight angle ruler. Place one of the straight edges along the length wise grain line of the pattern and the other straight edge parallel with the salvage.
Hope this helps,
Nehzat
Okay, Thank you, very much, Nehzat. I appreciate your help. This brings to mind another question I have reguarding this type of fabric. I read that on some of these fabrics the greatest stretch could be on the crossgrain or on the lengthwise grain, and that it should be cut with the greatest stretch going around the body. If the fabric has more stretch on lengthwise grain, then how would I square the crossgrain of the fabric?
Thank you, very much
Carol
Dear JB,
Some ideas I have that you can try to see if there are any improvements in the consistency of your machine stitches are:
Try to make these changes, if you still have issue with the stitching you need take it in for repair.
Hope this helps,
Nehzat
Dear Denese,
I am so happy to hear from our subscribers and that they are benefiting from the video lessons.
Since we don't have any transcripts available right now, I suggest that one thing you can do to help yourself remember the steps better, is to draft a small version of the patterns on a printer paper while you watch the videos.
You can also note down a few pointers for yourself to remember specific steps along the sides of the small pattern.
Hope this helps, happy sewing,
Nehzat
Dear Carol,
If you need to fold the fabric to place the pattern, follow the below instructions:
For this type of stretch fabric you can place the salvage edges on each other, making sure that the salvages are aligned, the fabric is laying flat and that there are no ripples in the fabric.
When you place the pattern on the fabric you make sure that the length wise grain line is parallel to the salvage.
If you need to place the pattern on a single layer of fabric, just place the pattern in a way so that the lengthwise grain line is parallel to the salvage.
Hope this helps,
Nehzat
Dear Grammy,
Welcome to eSewingWorkshop. I hope you will enjoy the videos and share your work with us.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Hi, I too am new. Just found this site today and was sooo pleased I didn't even take time to check it out before I joined. Am looking forward to my morning of checking every corner of this site.
Hi everyone,
I made this gown for a co-workers little girl who visits the hospital alot. I had a very hard time with this because I ended up making the sleeves just a bit small. The little girl was able to wear it, but I would like some input on how to make bigger sleeves. The sleeves are hard to see, but I just made one piece pattern. I think when I cut under the arms I do so a little to narrow. How can I fix that problem so next time I don't have the same issue.
Thanks
ilovesewingnow
Dear bdsouza,
Yes, we will be releasing a sleeve pattern making video lesson soon.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Hi ilovesewingnow,
Welcome to our community, I hope you will benefit from our videos.
Happy sewing,
Nehzat
Beautiful and elegant wedding gown.
please show how to make sleave pattern? what is the technique of inserting a sleave?